GREAT FALLS, Mont. – The University of Providence women's basketball team looks to bounce back on the road following a heartbreaking loss to Carroll College Saturday night.

The Argos (10-6, 1-3) are in the middle of a four-game road stand. They'll face off in Butte against Montana Tech (11-5, 1-3) on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. before traveling to Idaho to match up against Lewis-Clark State (9-5, 1-3) at 2 p.m.

"This is a big road swing for us," head coach Bill Himmelberg said. "Hopefully we come out ready to go."

Against the Fighting Saints, the Argos held a big lead for a majority of the game. The Saints however came back in the 4^th quarter, outscoring the Argos 20-8 to complete the comeback victory.

The loss sent the Argos to a tie at the bottom of the Frontier Conference standings, tied with both Montana Tech and Lewis-Clark with a 1-3 record. Despite the gloomy situation, Himmelberg said the team responded with a good week of practice, and praised his team for having the right attitude as they look to bounce back and climb up the standings. 

"We had a good week's worth of practice," he said. "We're just positive and upbeat right now. The girls have been looking good in practice this week. The biggest thing we've talked about is executing defensively and to execute offensively down the stretch. We couldn't make some baskets in the fourth quarter against Carroll. We had some good looks, we just have to knock them down. I'm confident our kids can do that. We have to be able to knock down shots when we get those open looks."

The Argos will travel to a tough environment in Butte Thursday evening to take on the Orediggers, who are led by Mesa Williams and Molly Peoples. Williams leads the team with 17.3 points per game, while Peoples is averaging 11.6. Tavia Rooney is averaging a double-double with 10.4 points and 11.6 rebounds per game. The Argos will also have to plan for Kaylee Zard in the post, who is averaging 9.8 points and 6.9 rebounds game.

"They have a number of different players that can do some damage," Himmelberg said. "We have to make sure we control everyone a little bit, especially Mesa Williams and Molly Peoples."

The game plan will be entirely different Saturday. The Warriors have six players that average over eight points a game, led by Kiara Burlage with 13.6

"All five of their girls can all score," Himmelberg said. "They're a really balanced team. They play about eight deep and are balanced top to bottom. We have to play solid defense as a team. We're going to have to make sure we come out and execute offensively."

Himmelberg's main focus for the weekend however is making sure his own team executes the game plan. The Argos know this is a critical weekend, but Himmelberg feels confident in his team's talent and ability to get the job done.
 
"We talk a lot about taking care of what we can control," Himmelberg said. "We want to make sure we can execute offensively and defensively. We want to make sure we're taking care of the things that we can control. We can't control the other stuff. We can't control the weather, the travel, the road. Things we can control are what we do on the court. We can execute and make sure we follow the game plan."

"I feel like we're prepared," he said. "We're ready to go."